The idea of education which I am examining in the model of Ragged University is in part an incidentalist one, in the meeting of the world. I am fiercely aware of the Filter Bubbles which structure our encounters with the world and others, particularly when we are acting in the digital realm which constitutes one of the main mediums of communication and organising. Read more…
Key in a deliberative society is the opportunity to gather in public spaces and discuss ideas. For the first time in eight years of organising events where people share their perspectives in social spaces and discussion is fostered through friendly proximity, where I as a coordinator have had to cancel an event. Read more…
Ragged University is not about an organisation presiding over who gets to share or discuss ideas but much more a social enquiry into our means of learning; it is socially and intellectually agnostic. The notion that as an organised practice ‘Ragged University events’ are setting up people as authorities on subjects is a misapprehension of what is happening – events are situations where people have come together to share what they have invested their time in. Read more…
It makes you wonder…
“It makes you wonder. All the brilliant things we might have done with our lives if only we suspected we knew how.”
ANN PATCHETT, Bel Canto
…and with our websites too.
Well the 2018 Ragged University year has started in the background where venues have been contacted, equipment organised, and preparations made so that this years events are all ready for people to take part in. We hope that your winter has been fun, relaxing and suitably warm. The sun is returning with the bright fresh light of spring and the birds have started chattering. Read more…
This paper explores a perspective emerging from a community education project called Ragged University. The philosophical underpinnings of the project came as a response to necessity brought about by the existential poverty being created as a result of the process of enclosing the commons of the intellect. Read more…
How are we to conceptualize the notion of the porous university ? The anchor point is understanding what we mean by university, for if we know what a university is we are then in a position to imagine how it might be porous, or what porous might mean in reference to such a thing.
This is an audio recording of John Morrison’s Collider Lesson Plan; How Would You Build Guerilla Education ? Provocation. It was a session put on by John Morrison a practitioner and researcher working in the Digital Media and Interaction Design group in the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University. It has been fascinating getting the opportunity to work alongside John as he plans his lessons and curriculum for his students. Read more…
This is a summary of two presentations which I gave to students at Blackburn College when I was invited to share by teachers there who are teaching students to become teachers. The main theme was the future of education. I was asked as it was felt that what I could offer was a different and complimentary viewpoint to the various speakers who had shared in the course. You can listen to the podcasts and also read through some of the annotated sources here on the internet.
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